How to use Mac Recovery Mode

If you need to use the Mac Recovery Mode here's how to do that. We also look at the key combinations required, how to use Recovery HD, how to boot from Recovery over the internet, and how to find things like Terminal once you are Recovery Mode.

macOS Recovery (often referred to as Mac Recovery Mode) was introduced back in 2010 with OS X 10.7 Lion. This Recovery HD partition contains the latest version of the MacOS you installed on your Mac and makes it possible to troubleshoot issues with your Mac. It is a useful tool that the majority of Mac users will never need to use, unless one of the following applies:

How to start Mac in Recovery Mode

The most often used way to enter Recovery Mode is this:

Click on Apple logo at the top left of the screen.

Select Restart.

Immediately hold down the Command and R keys until you see an Apple logo or spinning globe. You will see the spinning globe if the Mac is trying to start macOS Recovery via the internet because it is unable to start from the built-in recovery system.

Eventually your Mac will show the Recovery Mode Utilities window with the following options:

However, there are a number of different key combinations you can use to boot in Recovery mode depending on what you want to do, we detail these below.

Which keys to use for macOS Recovery Mode

Depending on what you want to do with macOS Recovery there are a number of key combinations to use during start up:

Command + R

Use this if you want to install the latest version of macOS that you had installed on your Mac (it won’t install a newer version if you hadn’t upgraded). Note that if you're selling or giving away a Mac that is using OS X El Capitan or earlier you should also use Command-R - this will make sure that the installation isn't associated with your Apple ID”.

Option + Command + R

Use this if you want to upgrade to the latest version of macOS that is compatible with your Mac.

Shift + Option + Command + R

This will install the version of macOS that came with your Mac, or the one closest to that version if it isn’t available as a download.

Mac Recovery Mode options

When you start up in Recovery Mode you will see the following options:

How to access Terminal in macOS Recovery

Other options in macOS Recovery

You can also access the following additional features in macOS Recovery:

Firmware Password Utility (or Startup Security Utility)

A firmware password prevents users who don't have the password from starting up from any disk other than your designated startup disk. Not every Mac has this option. Click Turn On Firmware Password. Enter a password and click Set Password. Then quit and go to Apple > Restart.